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Cadonius - WIP

So i stumbled upon this great forum by accident about a week ago and decided to dust off my license of photoshop ( Had it laying around since i finished school ), and realized how much time making maps really takes, these will be my first tries with photoshop / CC3, and i can't say i'm that dissappointed but i see many things i need to improve, mind that the regional map has little to no detail except for borders. This is to save time, not lazyness. This map isn't only for my RPG group and our Drakar och Demoner ( Dragons and Demons, heavily modified Basic RPG ruleset. ) game sessions but might grow into a novell world as i complete it, time will tell. There will be alot of places and detailed maps on each country before i'm done.

And the photoshopped maps are mainly for my RPG group to look at until i finish the regions and such.

The countries, Kaltora, Keshrot, Margorra are often called "Tres Soreres", or the three sisters by the common outsiders. They have had a long and prosperous alliance which was created through marriage, and even now as over a hundred years has past, their alliance still holds strong. But now as Kaltoras once strong leader and Queen, Eria Kingsley is dead things might change. Old treaties may become forgotten as the Queen's three sons, and her daughter struggle to interpret the queen's dying will.

PS.
I apologize about the Kaltora map, or "Kaltorian" since most names are written in Swedish, so i will translate it below, left to right. (Just realized that the tower was in english, i must've been way too tired when i made this lol)
Note: Because of the epicness (and noobiness) with CC3, the locations for everything match 100% with the zoomed in map of Kaltora.

Just dropping off some more information about Kaltora and Margorra. ( Mind this is not DnD, as the rules encourage more RP and less fighting. The fighting is semi-realistic, and last game the group engaged in a fight and one from the group ended up with one less leg. It rewards planning, and thinking ahead rather than trying to fight. )

Of the three sister states, Keshrot is the weakest but should by no means be waved off as a defenceless state. The main states, Kaltora and Margorra have gained an immensive treasure from taxes, traveling through the river is the fastest way to reach the inland, but there are always people and organizations that tries, and sometimes succed in their attempts to bypass the tax by different methods. For now most attempts have halted as L'vasher is heavily crippled by a plague, meaning that it becomes harder to avoid the patrols ( Patrols increase to keep plague refugees outside their countries borders.)

Kaltora also has the only mage academy ( Mages are very rare in Cadonius, and rare in Drakar och Demoner as well. ) in the region, in the alliance they are respected as honorful people, though few know how dangerous they really are. Outside the alliance's borders mages are considered a danger, and should be kept an eye on. Mostly the public oppinion varies from state/country, but it's not something to walk around and brag about. That might lead to unpleasant situations.

PS.
Don't really like making the pics smaller, original size was 6000x6000, and that's enough to do some crazy things... Oh well.

This is the future world map, though still much work to do. Adding more planned countries, islands as well as retexturing and adding deserts. But still working on the main cities, need to lookup some tutorials to get them right.

Hehe, well it's Drakar och Demoner: Expert. And some houserules/modifications to rules from the good old, Sinkadus

Yeah, took a break today from mapmaking. Trying out the new x-com, but i can see that my world project will reach 200+ hours easy. Alot of work, but it's really fun when your playergroup explores the world. But the maps i've posted now are far from done, they are more like experiments since it was a long time since i even touched the programs.

But city walls and towers is my real weakness lol, but i guess it will come and hit me in the head sooner or later ^^

Update. -

Been working alot on the world, mostly Tres Sorares but also another land, or country. Still, i have pretty much no clue what i'm doing in Photoshop, but atleast my players can see the map and understand it.

Nadrimmar was the first city map i tried to do, and i have a tendency to overdo effects. Hopefully i will learn with time

Keshrot is the land just west of Kaltora, and are governed by a priesthood. They have seven knights, paladins or holy warriors which seeks out the interests of their god and country as they are sent away to journey through faraway lands.

Intral, is a place quite far away from Tres Sorares, and with that a quite big difference in their culture and daily life.

Sidenote.
The group i've been DMing for about 8 months in this campaign world seem to enjoy the setting, so far only one has died but that's more because of luck, they push their chances from time to time, and sometimes the gamble plays out of their favor, sometimes not

Keshrot

And the capital of Keshrot.

Intral, the yet unexplored land. ( They've stuck to the region they started and haven't done that much travelling. )

Kaltora -
This is probobly one of the more classic types of medieval rulerships, for one exception. The Lords and Ladies of the realm, decide together whom the next King, or Queen, or both will be. And at the time the campaign started, also created alot of tension in the land. Because the past queen had recently passed away, and reasons for the nobles refusing/ignoring the problem many. There are many towns, but the main city is probobly my favourite. Drie is connected to Margorra's city, Teigal through a massive bridge which spans over the river, giving the alliance of the three lands total control of the trade inwards, and outwards. Together they form one of the strongest military forces currently known, however it is quite a fragile alliance. Magic is so rare, it's seen as myth and legend, but it does exist, hidden from public sight however. The reason for this is because the alliance with Keshrot, which deems magic to be a too big of a threat to be allowed. And so, throughout the years Kaltora has kept their magic users hidden from sight, with a subtle warning of harm if the mage in question would try anything. - There is an organization condoned by the nobles that have kept the trouble of magic to a minimum, they are a last resort however.

Keshrot, the land to the west.
This land is governed by the priesthood of Mitranos, a fair and just god as they say. They have the strongest standing army of the "three sisters", but are peaceful unless something or someone is activily working against them. They see their god above all, they pray and live their lives with Mitranos as a strong centerpiece, but the people are happy, and the economy based of governing the trade that flows. This is more of an Oligarchy?, Seeing as power never leaves the High priests. A select few are called Paladins, Holy warriors that all except one leave their homeland to travel onwards on varius missions. Most of which are holy in their eyes, searching for a holy artifact or something perhaps more important.

They also have the largest library in the region, spanning throughout the massive castle it contains quite abit of knowledge.

Margorra,
This land is known for their religous freedom and their King, Bernard. He was the one uniting the three countries together in a strong alliance, before that they had only been Neutral at best. This land isn't governed by the King alone, the queen doesn't have much to say but the King chooses six men to govern with him. And it's quite easy to see how political this can get, but the title of King in Margorra is passed on throughout generations.

Rumors can be heard throughout the villages, which speaks of "Shadow people". Cloaked men who remove "unloyal" people, these people are never heard or seen again.